Touchdown trifecta
NEW ORLEANS – Mike Karney had no dances prepared and he obviously hadn’t practiced his spike, which bounced sideways instead of up.
Having never scored an NFL touchdown, the third-year pro didn’t expect to get in the end zone once, never mind three times in a prime-time game Sunday at Dallas.
“I didn’t know what to do,” Karney recalled of his ad-libbed end-zone celebrations. “My job is to block.”
Or so he thought. That is, until new coach Sean Payton came up with plays to transform him into yet another scoring threat on the Saints offense.
Karney’s teammates relished the sight of the bruising 5-foot-11, 254-pound fullback, with the huge shoulder pads that give him an almost hunchback appearance, winding up in a windmill motion for an ugly spike in the end zone.
“Mr. Hat Trick. That was awesome,” quarterback Drew Brees said. “Everyone on this team couldn’t be happier for the guy because it seems like the fullback gets left out. He’s the bruiser. He’s the guy who’s sticking his nose in there every play and never gets enough credit.
“I’m sure they thought the last guy that was going to touch the ball down there in the red zone was going to be Mike Karney, but it ended up working out for us.”
Payton said there were no plans going into the game to give the ball more to Karney, who finished with five catches for 39 yards and three rushes for 14 yards. But Dallas’ defense, using heavy pressure and solid pass coverage downfield to force Saints punts on their first two possessions, prompted Payton to call the fullback’s number more than usual.
“Mike knows this as well as anyone: It wasn’t like we went into the game and said, ‘We need to get the ball in Mike Karney’s hands today,’ ” Payton said. “That being said, we were getting some looks that suggested we might have some throws to the flats. We wanted to get some quicker throws versus the pressure so the quarterback wouldn’t get hit and he benefited from that.”
On his first touchdown, a short run from near the goal line, Karney scored easily. The defense obviously wasn’t keying on him, and Karney noted that the offensive line had executed a flawless trap block.
“(Guard) Jahri Evans killed his guy. (Center) Jeff Faine took care of his guy. (Guard) Jamar Nesbit cracked on the backside linebacker that was supposed to come over the top. I just walked in, just how we ran it in practice,” Karney recalled.
The linemen were equally pleased to see someone more like them getting a little glory.
“Mike is, most of the time, a pulling guard lined up in the backfield,” right tackle Jon Stinchcomb said. “He’s definitely one of us, so everybody’s excited for him to have such a huge day. I don’t know if any fullback has had a day like that.”
Karney’s next two scores came on short pass routes. He was open along the goal line on the first one. But on the second, after Deuce McAllister’s apparent TD was erased by a 5-yard penalty, Karney did most of the work himself. After he caught the ball in the backfield, he lowered his shoulder into a tackler while nimbly keeping his feet inbounds, then switching the ball to his inside hand as he stretched forward to nick the pylon.
“Pretty good play, from the left to the right hand, extended, touchdown,” Payton said. “So he’ll be lobbying for more touches here in the future. I was excited for him. The fullback is an unselfish position by nature, so he understands his role and he’s a real good team player.”
There was a time in Karney’s life when he saw the ball and the end zone a lot more. In high school in Kent, Wash., he rushed for 800 yards and 22 TDs his senior year. He then went on to play at Arizona State, where he was primarily a blocking back and scored only one touchdown.
It wouldn’t take too much for the Saints to get Karney the ball more. Including the Dallas game, Karney has only 13 receptions for 82 yards and nine rushes for 24 yards.
Karney said he’s happy to block and got as much satisfaction from a fourth-quarter block that sprung McAllister for a 35-yard run than any of his scores, which he found more amusing then anything.
“I was just laughing. It was just kind of funny I had scored three touchdowns,” Karney said. “I thought it was a joke. In a big game? Everyone was like, ‘What’s your deal?’ And I was like, ‘I think it’s funny, because who would have ever known?’ I wanted to go buy a lottery ticket after that. I thought it must be my lucky day.”